Still decompressing. The Daily has an article on it in today's issue. Here's a rundown of how it went for me:

( The rally and aftermath )

Thus ends SARVA Week 2007. It was pretty crazy for me since I was much more involved this year, but it was totally worth it. The other events of the week were all fantastic (though more humorous than heavy, and so not really worth attempting to translate into a blog post).

I hope you're all wearing jeans today for our Denim Day remembrance/protest. I've been wearing my SARVA Week t-shirt all week, so my co-workers all know about it and a bunch of them are wearing jeans today. :D

Oh, and ha ha.

Seattle-area folks!

I've totally been lax on making announcements about this, but SARVA Week is going on right now! For those of you unfamiliar with the event, SARVA (Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Awareness) Week is an annual event organized by C.O.R.E. (the Committee Organizing Rape Education, of which I am a volunteer). Through events, posters, and other displays, SARVA Week seeks to raise awareness on campus about the issues of sexual assault and relationship (domestic) violence.

Every night of this week through Thursday, there will be an event on campus in the HUB that educates people about sexual violence. (There was one just tonight and it was fabulous.) All events are free and open to the public.

( SARVA Week events )

I plan to go to all of these events. Please come and show your support!

Yesterday I had what I would term "a good anti-oppression day."

( First, classes )

( And then, C.O.R.E. )

Today, I went downtown to get a flu shot. Not a happy or fun thing, I guess, but I'll be glad if I don't catch the flu. :P

While I was downtown, I also stopped by Golden Age to pick up a new set of dice. And yes, I needed a seventh set. XD;; My character for irishninja's game didn't have a set especially for her ... *blatantly justifying* Also, it was this gorgeous royal blue set that I've had my eye on for months. :D

Thanks to everyone who gave me well wishes this week. It seems to have worked. :o

Here's what I read today at work before going to do a C.O.R.E. presentation.

According to a court in Maryland, a woman cannot withdraw consent to sex once it has begun.

Because, apparently, once a man sticks his penis in you, you lose all say over what happens to your own body. I guess this isn't terribly surprising, though, since that's the common conservative position on abortion - if you consented to have sex, then you lose the ability to decide what happens to your body if you get pregnant. It doesn't matter if the pregnancy is inconvenient, painful, damaging to your body, or even life-threatening. And now, apparently, it doesn't matter if sex does the same thing. You said 'yes' at one point, after all.

Does anyone else have an image of a three year-old whining, "No take-backs!"?

But wait, there's more! The court graciously explained the basis for this ruling, which was a law that states that raping a woman "de-flowers" her and is thus a loss for the man who owns her.

Maryland court in less than 50 words: You're not allowed to control your body once a man penetrates you. But that's okay, because your only worth is being a pristine virgin for the man who actually controls you anyway.

More here, here, and here.

You know, contrary to popular belief, I don't hate men because I'm a feminist. But I do hold a scathing contempt for a large number of them, namely the ones who are too selfish, lazy, stupid, or cruel to own up to their privilege. Particularly the ones who purport to be intelligent or even enlightened, and have the tools for education staring them in the face. I include judges in this category.

( which brings me to C.O.R.E. )

As of tonight, I've done four presentations for C.O.R.E. The more practice I get, the more patterns I see, both in my own behavior and those of the students I present to (as of now, fraternities and sororities).

( What I've learned )

( What I do )

( And tonight's presentation ... )

So.

It didn't go that badly.

I did my first C.O.R.E. presentation tonight, and as anyone whom I talked to about it knows, I was pretty nervous. ( the lowdown )

Anyway. That was that. Not fantastic. But I can get better. And hell yes, you can be sure that I'll be doing this again.

Tonight was my last training as a peer educator with C.O.R.E., the Committee Organizing Rape Education. This is the campus organization that I've been mentioning for the past couple of months. I started my training at the end of last quarter, and now I'm "qualified" to be a peer educator who will give presentations on sexual assault and relationship violence starting next fall.

This isn't something I predicted for myself. Public speaking, obviously, is not my strength - talking on the phone still intimidates me. >_> But when I wanted to start doing volunteer work, C.O.R.E. was one of the first opportunities I heard of, and I thought, why not? I'm already doing one thing that I'm not used to or good at (i.e., activism), so why not try something else?

Tonight, for this final training session, we practiced doing the actual presentations. I expected that it wouldn't go perfectly, and it didn't - I screwed up, I hesitated, I babbled for embarassingly long periods of time without saying anything coherent. But I expected that. It's something of a relief to have finally tried it out, and figured out what I need to do and what I need to focus my attention on. And, you know, it wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be.

We also had a guest speaker, a woman who has experience both teaching and training on topics related to sexual violence. She did a great job of preparing us for the tough stuff, like difficult questions or an unresponsive audience. I'm slightly less anxious now.

She also acknowledged that public speaking on this topic is different from most other types of public speaking - the topic is far more personal and uncomfortable than almost anything else people speak about. We're trained from an early age not to talk about any of the subjects related to sexual violence - not about sex, not about our bodies, not about violence, and not about rape itself. Not only do we have to do the work normally involved in public speaking, but we have to fight our way through these preconceived barriers in people's minds. This isn't easy. But it's important. And she said: "Standing up in front of people and talking about sexual violence is nothing short of a revolutionary act."

I'm a revolutionary. Fuck yeah.

Just finished helping to set up some exhibits for Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Awareness Week. Go me! :D For people on campus who want to see them, we have the Silent Witness exhibit on the HUB lawn, detailing the stories of twenty-something victims of domestic/relationship violence from Washington in 2004. Inside the HUB, there are a series of posters about healthy relationships. Both exhibits will be on display all week (Silent Witness will be taken down in the evenings).

Of course, there's also the major events I mentioned before. Once again:

Monday, April 10th, 7:00 p.m.
HUB Auditorium
"Consent is Sexy" lecture by Dr. Pepper Schwartz

Tuesday, April 11th, 7:00 p.m.
HUB Auditorium
Born into Brothels screening

Thursday, April 13th, 6:00 p.m.
Red Square to HUB lawn
"Safety Under the Stars" Run/Walk and Rally

There's also an article in The Daily. Whee!